Zeb Turner

Zeb Turner (June 23, 1915 Ô[][] January, 10, 1978) was an American boogie-woogie songwriter and guitarist, and pioneer of rockabilly. He was born William Edward Grishaw in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States, and he renamed himself after a favorite piece of music, "The Zeb Turner Stomp". With his brother James (who took the stage name "Zeke Turner"), also a guitarist, he backed artists such as Hank Williams and Red Foley in the years after World War II. He co-wrote "It's a Sin", a number one hit on the country chart for Eddy Arnold in 1947, with music publisher Fred Rose. Turner also recorded for small record labels such as Bullet and King Records; some of these were "country boogie" tunes which were influential on early rockabilly. His King Records version of Billy Briggs' "Chew Tobacco Rag" was a #8 jukebox country and western hit in 1951, while his own "Tennessee Boogie" had reached #11 on the same chart in 1949. Later in the 1950s, Turner was a disc jockey on Baltimore and Washington radio stations.